[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: hey, good morning, everybody. what do you say? it is monday. ing monday april 22nd and here we are on the "full court press," back in business this monday morning. hope you had a good weekend and are ready to tackle the big stories of the day, and we have got them. things are kind of back to normal here in washington, d.c.

which means that some republicans are already starting to back away from immigration reform, in other words it looks like immigration reform like gun control may become another one of those issues in which washington ends up doing absolutely nothing, and things are back to normal up in boston too as authorities prepare to file charges against dzhokhar tsarnaev, and bring him to trial if only republican legislators like lindsey graham could get out of the way, shut the you know what up and let authorities do their job, let the justice department bring him to trial in a federal court as they plan to do so. that's what is going on. the two big stories you can comment remember on all of that and a whole lot more by giving us a call at 866-55-press. join us on twitter @bpshow and

on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. it is the "full court press," we're coming to you live all the way across this country, bringing you up to date on the stories of the day and giving you a chance to comment right here on current tv. ♪ 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you know what you say up in boston three things matter, court, politics, and revenge. now is the time for a little revenge. good morning, everybody, what do you say? monday, monday april 22nd good to see you today. welcome, welcome welcome to the "full court press" here on

current tv. it's a beautiful monday morning. little chilly in the air here in washington, d.c. otherwise a beautiful morning, itself good to see you today, hope you enjoyed the weekend and are ready to tackle the big stories of the day. things are kind of getting back to normal here in washington, d.c. we'll bring you up to date on the latest events up in boston, and the latest attempts to get something done here in our nation's capitol. here is also what is great about the "full court press," if you are just joining us maybe for the first time and welcome, you get to sound off as well and tell us what you think about the issues of the day, not just hear what is going on, and you can do so by giving us a call at

866-55-press 866-557-7377. you can join us on twitter, we invite your comments on twitter @bpshow, and you can join the chat room too where you can discuss the issues with your fellow inners and viewers across the land by going to current.com, chick on the chat room and you are in. boy, lots and lots and lots to talk about today and so many aspects of what we witnessed over the weekend up in boston. extraordinary work by our law enforcement authorities up there, and everybody can sleepel illy knowing that both of the suspects, one dead and the other in custody. we started out friday morning on that story and continue with that story here today with dan henning, and peter ogburn.

>> hey hey hey. >> alicia cruz has the phones j. and siprion bolling has got us on camera again this morning on current tv. thank you, is siprion. so it was watching boston come back to life was exciting and they know how to do it up there, right? so they had to cancel the red sox game on friday. >> yeah. >> bill: so saturday they made at it huge celebration -- >> it was amazing how they started to celebrate on friday night when they apprehended this second suspect. it's rare that you see a genuine parade where people pour out of their houses -- as the police were leaving people were lining the streets applauding. >> bill: yeah, as they were leaving the area where the home and the boat in the back of that house and the cars were coming up that street and going down where people could gather,

because they weren't allowed down on the immediate scene, and they were just leaving the scene, and people were applauding like it was a parade. >> yeah. >> bill: and the polices were waving back. it was great. >> and it was about 10:00 on a friday night, so it was perfect time to start partying. the best parties in america were in boston this weekend, i'm sure. >> bill: yeah, and then they turned the saturday game into a -- into a real celebration at finway park. let's do these in reverse order, a -- actually. a surprise guest -- at the red sox everybody sings -- in boston they sing "sweet caroline," and

neal diamond himself showed up in person. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ touching hands, reaching out ♪ >> bill: i love this you can hear the crowd. >> oh, yeah everybody was on their feet. ♪ touching you, sweet caroline ♪ >> bill: there it was. [ crowd singing ] >> bill: but the highlight was david ortiz taking the plate speaking for the red sox and with the sentiments they were calling him last night on the news the expletive heard around the world.

>> you don't say red sox today, you say boston. we want to thank you mayor, governor patrick, the whole police department for the great job that they did this past week. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is our [ censor bleep ] city. >> bill: this is our f-ing city. that went out over the airwaves what was really funny -- of course it did go out over television and there was the f word. but the chairman of the fcc within an hour came out and said it's okay because it was from the heart.

can i say it from the heart? >> i guess since it freeze the heart. >> i think it helps that the chairman of the fcc is a massachusetts native and a red sox fan. >> bill: i think so. we'll be talking to avery friedman our legal beagle and dylan byars from "politico" in here to talk about how well the media did or didn't do covering this story. and where do we go from here? but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> on this monday some overhead lines make this new, former president george w. bush's library opens in texas this week. bush says it will be a play to quote, lay out the facts, not a forum to explain his policies and handling of things like the

iraq war and hurricane katrina. bush says there is no need to explain himself. >> bill: i still have to say, we'll talk more about this later -- george bush library? >> yeah. >> bill: if that is not a contradiction in terms. >> every admission comes with a free box of crayons. >> one member of congress wants to save a little money the national budget by cutting out if i recall painted portraits of government leaders. east portrait costs between $20,000 and $40,000. >> bill: yeah, and they are such great works of right. >> he is introducing the eliminated government funding oil painting act or ego for short.

[ laughter ] >> to stop the paintings on the taxpayer dime. >> bill: i'll sign on. yeah, absolutely. >> i wonder how much -- >> bill: and what happens to those by the way? >> yeah, i wonder how much it costs comparatively to just take a picture of someone. >> i'll tell you it is not $40,000. >> right. >> and time magazine unleased its 100 most influential people list of all time and president obama is on for the fourth time mischel obama, and kim junk un lindsey vonn make the list but her boyfriend, tiger woods did not. chris christie is on that too by the way. >> bill: all right.

thank you, dan. what an extraordinary weekend. the lockdown was announced during the show, and we were sure that by the end of the show, that would have him, right? because they had that horrible crime scene thursday night when they thought they had robbed the 7-eleven. it turned out they didn't rob the 7-eleven but they were there at the time. and then they shot and killed senselessly it seems this officer. they hijack the car take off with this guy, go from atm to atm, big up $800, thrown him out of the car. he very cleverly -- i give him credit for doing it appropriately -- left his cell phone in the car so the police

were able to track his car to watertown, one brother is killed, and the other brother goes on the lam. and that's when thigh lockdown the city. it went on and on all day and i was watching the news i'm sure many of you were -- i was watching brian williams on nbc when he was reporting that this guy was still on the loose, and then they broke into the news, which was a replay they had taped a half hour before and went live and said they have -- gunfire was just heard down the street -- i skipped over something -- just before brian williams the lockdown had been lifted -- which i was surprised, but they admitted that he had not been in the perimeter. they searched every house. he had been in there, they saw some blood in the back of one of the houses but they didn't find

him, and then events went pretty fast, and by 8:45 the news had come out that they had got him. there are so many aspects about this. the law enforcement officials, state, local federal, did an incredibly good job on this i believe. the citizens did a great job, you know? they went along with the lockdown. they -- they really showed i think the finist spirit up in boston, and this one guy -- you know, the old saying, see something, say something, he did it. he walked out of his house for the first time all day, he saw blood on the a tarp of his boat and he called authorities. and they closed in. and the whole thing was such a perfect ending until lindsey graham opened his big fat mouth. right. talk about the turd in a punch bowl. here he is lindsey graham, let

them do their job. they got the guy, and -- and justice department has to decide now what charges to file and take him to court and the evidence is overwhelming against this guy, but lindsey graham is not happy because he says they have to try him as an enemy combatant. i'm not a lawyer, but he's not an enemy combatant. he is a terrorist. he is an american citizen. he committed an act of terror on american soil. the justice department plans to take him to trial, give him a fair trial in a federal court the same way they did with the bombers of the first world trade center bombing and they know what they are doing. let them do their job. the two questions i have -- i would love your take on it 866-55-press -- number one why of all people yesterday on the

sunday shows, why of all people do the sunday shows have to book lindsey graham? he is on every other freaking sunday of the year. whatever issue they have to have lindsey graham on. is he the new rule? immigration reform lindsey graham. >> north korea indiana. and boston airthon, lindsey graham? jesus. >> i have a feeling they just book him week after week after week, and the bookers were too lazy to say, we have breaking news -- >> bill: they probably up on the wall they have -- every sunday they have lindsey graham booked already. they don't care. that's the first question why? why? okay. and the second question is what does the freaking know about it

right? i mean wtf lindsey graham let the justice department and the fbi and the authorities do their job, stay the you know what out of it. stay out of it. i mean just stfu lindsey graham. he and john mccain of course his butt boy -- or which one is which i don't know. and pete king same thing they want to turn this into a political football. they want to turn this act of terror and heroic work by our law enforcement officers into political football, and it pisses me off, and it should piss everyone else off. they should just shut up. 866-55-press, don't you think? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers

thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

♪ ♪ ♪ don't you know what you are doing ♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: twenty-six hours after the hour here. we're talking about all of the different aspects of the -- oh god what do we call it -- the whole marathon experience in boston with a happy ending on friday night. unfortunately one more police officer loosing his life in that shootout at mit -- it was an assassination at mit, and one police officer severely wounded in the shootout in watertown,

massachusetts, when the police discovered the hijacked suv with the two suspects inside. peter? >> we're on at which timer @bpshow, perry says any sunday show that would book lindsey graham or john mccain should be boycotted and they lack imagination and credibility. >> bill: if nothing else they lack imagination. you guys are bookers. you think about who is best for this subject this particular day on this show right? the answer to that is not always lindsey graham. >> right. >> bill: plus he was running for reelection, he is trying to go as far right as he can, he wants to put himself in the middle of every story and make it political -- sort of some political controversy. >> yeah. >> bill: that's exactly what he is doing. >> and i would add it did not take long for him to ruin the good feeling that was had.

>> bill: yeah. everybody was like we got him. let's feel good. no, we got to try -- if obama does don't that, he doesn't doing the right thing. he is not tough on terrorist. >> and bill says he could try him in federal court, he is an american citizen. >> bill: yes. let's go back to the shake -- the blind shake or whatever, responsible and convicted of the first world trade senator bombing. avery friedman who covers legal affairs for cnn and the "full court press" will be joining us about 15 minutes from now, and we'll get his -- you have had my non-lawyer take on lindsey graham, we'll get avery

friedman's professional legal opinion on what lindsey graham is doing. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

♪ >> chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey, you bet it is. it is thirty-three minutes after the hour. here we go. it's monday april 22nd. thank you so much for joining us here on the "full court press," brought to you today by the united steal workers and their international president, leo

gerard, go ahead men and women of the american steelworker's union, representing more than 1.2 retired and active workers. we're talk about many aspects of the events? boston exactly starting one week ago today and ending with great -- great drama and great success, rather friday night with the apprehension of the second suspect after a day of lockdown, and that's the other aspect of this that other people are talking about. was that lockdown necessary of the entire city? and did they do it the right way in that they lifted the lockdown without finding the guy? it was only after they lifted

the lockdown that they found him outside of the perimeter. what do you think? 866-55-press. that's a little bit too much monday morning quarterbacking for me. they didn't know where he was. he had -- he and his brother had planted these bombs at the marathon -- at the boston marathon, the finish line they knew they were heavily armed, they knew they had other bombs, they knew they planned to launch other attacks, so they had to take every single precaution, they also knew they would be trying to get out of the area, right? so that's why they couldn't just limit it to one little neighborhood, and the -- we found out later, the kid was inside that perimeter, but before daylight he had managed to escape there was blood in one house where he was hiding

at, he managed to get out. they didn't see him. i think had they not locked the city down, god knows what would have happened and then people would be criticizing them for not do it. >> yeah. it is kind of a double edge sword. he was a citizen and they caught him, but you are right had they not locked the city down, it could have been worse. >> the citizen didn't catch him. the citizen saw the blood, and authorities were right there, they were there within seconds. >> right. part of this conversation started off with nate silver from 538 who knows everything. he tweeted during the lockdown, can't wait until they catch the bastard, but it's a valid to inquire about the tangible and intangible costs of shutting a whole city down.

is it easier to hide from thousands of law enforcement officers or hundreds of thousands of people? >> bill: right. i think they did the right thing and they got him. gerald is calling from south carolina. >> caller: hey, bill i think lindsey graham is a completely otter embarrassment to the state. and i want you to invite him to your show so we can bombard him with questions so we can see how much he don't know. >> bill: we ought to do that although i hate to be like everybody else and put him on our show. >> caller: we don't understand him in south carolina. and i know what his problem is. what it is he need a woman in his life. >> bill: he needs something in his life, gerald i don't care,

man or woman. but i tell ya -- [ laughter ] >> bill: gerald said he is an embarrassment to south carolina. i think he is an embarrassment to man kind. marinego. >> caller: hi, i understand lindsey graham and all republicans, it's just intense jealousy for obama because he is so cool and smart and so much better than any other founding father that we have ever had. he has really helped our country, and we're just going in the right direction as long as we never ever have another republican in the office we'll be doing good. and they are jealous. they want to get out there and be popular, and it won't happen because we just love obama. >> caller: christine a lot of it is -- is anti-obama feeling,

there's no doubt about it on so many different issues and i'm sure that some of this enemy combatant gets to that too. wherever obama is going they have to find a way to go against it. they are genetically incapable of saying this time we stand with the president. we were attacked on 9/11 and on the 15th of april as well and we stand with the president, and we got our guy, right? no, no no. they just have to somehow find if obama is on the right side of it, they have got to find some -- some way to make it again, a political football which i think we should all resent at this time and i would like to see some other republicans stand up and say what i said, hey, lindsay, just shut up. be an american for once okay? just -- just celebrate the good news here and the good work done by our law enforcement

authorities without trying to interject yourself into it. jeanine in st. louis -- but again, i want to come back to this lockdown issue, because that's the one area they are getting criticized. it is a legitimate question was this necessary? >> they stopped the amtrak train. was that necessary? well, yeah, but how did they know? they had evidence to indicate he was connected. they had to find out. that's the business of police work. they follow a lot of leads and not all of them pan out. >> yeah, i think that's the best way to put it they shut the city down for the day, and they realized that maybe they could get something by having the citizens out and about, and that's what lead to his capture. >> bill: and tack to nate silver's point, without so many

people out on the streets it is easier to see the guy who is moving, at least if he had moved during the daylight hours. he had gotten in the boat hours before, under the cover of darkness. my criticism was when they lifted the lockdown without having him. because i thought if you don't have him, why it is safe to go outside of your homes? let's talk to jeanine in st. louis. good morning. >> caller: good morning? >> bill: what do you think? >> caller: about the boston lookdown or lindsey graham? >> bill: well, lindsey graham. >> caller: it's typical overreaching that happens in both parties. they go to overreach instead of looking at the actual facts.

>> bill: i liked the word you used jeanine, posturing. because that sums up -- that's lindsey graham's mo right, posturing on every issue. and on this issue it burns me up. >> caller: and frankly the demes and republicans are equally culpable of this. >> bill: tell me one democrat that has been posturing on this issue -- >> caller: oh gosh tell me one that hasn't. >> bill: no, no no. come on the ones who have talked out were four republicans. >> caller: diane feinstein. >> bill: she said he should be tried an enemy combatant. i challenge you on that jeanine. i doubt that very very much.

i'll check that out. diane feinstein said that labelling this guy as an enemy combatant, quote, would be unconstitutional. >> bill: oh, all right. oh, my god, jeanine. don't tell me you were wrong. yeah, you were. please know your facts before you call. avery friedman legal expert on cnn and here on the "full court press" joins us in the next segment, and we'll get the official word from him as a trained lawyer about how this suspect should be tried here on the "full court press," stay tuned. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. ♪

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. ♪

>> announcer: radio meets television the "bill press show," now on current tv. >> bill: all right. thirteen minutes before the top of the hour here on the "full court press." lindsey graham out there saying the justice department doesn't know what the hell it is doing, listen to me lindsey graham i'm the world's expert on everything from cats to terrorism, and i say that the suspect should be tried -- lindsey graham says -- as an enemy combatant. what the hell is that all about, avery freedman legal analyst, and we claim him as our own here to as well avery freedman good to have you with us.

>> good to be here bill. >> bill: last tuesday evening i had the great honor here at washington, d.c. at a big dinner to present an award to casey kaysum, and there was a video shown about casey with many of his friends there, including i was so happy to see avery freedman. i didn't know you guys knew each other. >> oh, bill, what a kind thing to say. >> bill: you were great. >> and to see ryan seacrest and marleau thomas what a wonderful, wonderful evening. i'm thrilled that you were there, and thank you for menninging that. >> bill: yeah casey is such a great friend of mine and we spent a lot of time working on a lot of important causes. >> you had to be a great one-two

punch. >> bill: yeah. but i was so proud to see you at that. is lindsey graham -- what is up with this? >> let's say it respectfully -- >> bill: why? why? >> well, i'm going to do that. you don't have to. but honestly, i get the idea -- they are culling out the quarrel decision that is almost a 30-year exception to the miranda rule. it has got nothing to do with anything, the idea of charging dzhokhar as an enemy combatant that essentially shifts it to guantanamo, is so inconsistent it is [ inaudible ] to me. >> bill: the exception to miranda that you can get that

information because of a national security issue, you can question him without reading him his miranda rights first. i have no problem with that at all. >> i agree with you. >> bill: but what is wrong with trying anymore our federal courts? haven't we had success trying terrorist cases in our federal courts? >> hundreds of successful cases, instead of the tribunal where they have had less than a handful with not near the success of our federal courts especially in boston. you have a great united states attorney up there, they have plenty of experience in dealing with people like this. the idea of calling him an enemy combatant and shipping him to a

gun on the mow, is an outrage. .he is communicating. the hig guys have already been in there, the high-value interrogation. they are already there. we're beyond that. look for charges -- i thought we would see something yesterday, bill, but i think we'll see the charges today. they are be mirandized. the u.s. mandate judge is going to go to the hospital and it moves, quote forthwith. >> bill: yeah, and is there any doubt in your mind -- or do you think that holder will -- and mueller will decide to seek the death penalty? >> oh there's not even a question about it. you have sufficient enactment from congress, changing the

united states code. you will have a death penalty speck in this terrorism case actually a number of them as they should and that will surrace if not today by tuesday. >> bill: back to lindsey graham i think it's purely political on his part -- >> well, look it may very well be, but i'm going to give him -- i think he is a former local united states attorney -- no, he's a military -- oh maybe that explains. >> bill: right. exactly. but don't you think also in terms of closure that word that we heard so often, for the american people and the people of boston -- they want to see this guy brought to trial, right? see the evidence and have justice served rather than ship him to a gun on the mow and put

him in a cage -- >> or try him in secret. >> bill: yeah, those federal judges in boston have dealt with terrorism. you have a great united states attorney, this should be transparent after the inquiries have been made let's go and get this guy. >> bill: yeah, one of the sports writer said up there, there are three thanks count in boston sports politics, and revenge. we would add justice maybe too. justice served in the federal courts. >> where it belongs. that's what the founders had in mind, and the constitution contrary to the belief of others, actually works. >> bill: i don't care what they say, avery you are a good man. [ laughter ] >> contrary to what they say you

are as well. >> bill: hey, avery thanks so much, man. >> my pleasure. >> bill: talk to you again soon. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ we have a big big hour and the criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block.

>> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

>> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high.

>> only on current tv. ♪ >> announcer: taking your emails on any topic at anytime, this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. here we go lots of comments about lindsey graham. and his insistence that the second suspect who's name i just

always have a hard time pronouncing, so i won't even try, should be tried as an enemy combatant. kitty says i'm sick of seeing and hearing this man. who gives a damn on every subject in the world. i wish he would crawl under a rock and shut up. bill says i remember lindsey as a congressman in clinton's impeachment trial, he was shedding tears begging for him to be impeached. robert says the prerequisite to being a politician in south carolina is to be a christian and a bigot, gray matter doesn't count. and barbara says stupid people who complain about police protection are just the

right-wing paranoid why even give them air time. thanks for the comments. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: what do you say, good morning, everybody, welcome to the "full court press" this monday morning april 22nd. so good to see you today and have you on board the "full court press" as we take off and bring you up to date on the news of the day what is happening here in our nation's capitol? not much. what is happening up in boston?

back in normal. huge sigh of relief. john kerry issuing an warning to syria, and talking about more support for the rebels in syria. and things kind of getting back to normal here in washington which means that some republicans are already starting to run away from the new agreement on immigration reform, undermining that, which also means that maybe -- maybe immigration reform looks like it could happen; that immigration reform like gun control will end up another one of those hugely important issues on which washington does absolutely nothing. and when we say things are getting back to normal up in boston, that means everybody out of their homes and authorities are investigating and continuing their investigation now into what charges that may be filed against the second terrorism suspect and those charges will probably be charged today with a lot of people questioning

whether or not the city -- the police were right to lockdown the entire city. and lindsey graham insisting that the suspect be tried as an enemy combatant. all of that and more we'll tell you about it right here on current tv. ♪ tree huggers, it's a wake up call to mankind. celebrate earth day with an afternoon of documentaries about the planet we all share. >> what are the forces that are blocking change? (vo) and stay tuned at 2 eastern for an exclusive premiere of leonardo dicaprio's award winning film, the 11th hour. >> we face a convergence of crises, all of which are a concern for life.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me.

>>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: boston strong! that is the word for the day, and that is the -- apparently the mood of the city the mood of the nation good morning, everybody, happy monday. here we go. it's a big monday. monday april 22nd great to see you today. it's the "full court press" here

on current tv and on your local progressive talk radio station, your headquarters in the morning for finding out what is going on and for talk about it. we not only bring you up to date on the newsover the day, but give you an opportunity to sound off ourselves, get it off your chest, tell us what these issues mean to you and your family. you can do so by giving us a call at 866-55-press. love to get those phone calls hear your voices on the air, and get your comments on twitter twitter @bpshow, and on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. no excuse for not getting into the conversation and we know these issues are important to you as they are to us and you have as much to offer about them as we do. we meaning the team here. peter ogburn, and dan henning. >> hey hey, hey. >> bill: good weekend, everybody? >> very good weekend.

>> bill: ready to go back and tackle the work of the week with alicia cruz on the phones and siprion bolling on the cameras on the video cam. and here we are -- let's see where do we start in oh i got to you, one of the funniest things. i talked to a friend who heard a rebroadcast of wait, wait don't tell me -- in fact we all know matt geo -- formally known as national geographic. he was listening to a broadcast of wait, wait, don't tell me where they were introducing al gore, and they surprised him with ed holmes the comedian and a kind of offering he has about

am gore. >> have you ever heard comedian ed helms do his gay al gore impression? >> no, would love to. >> we just happen do have some tape of it on this show. we heard that you do and i don't know how you came up with this a gay al gore. >> yeah, right. if i were elected president, i would make absolutely certain that -- [ laughter ] >> stiletto heels came in men's size. [ laughter ] >> oh. that's very funny. [ laughter ] >> bill: i sort of have a feeling that al gore didn't think that was very funny. >> no i don't think he did. >> bill: i don't think he did. but he went along with it at any rate. hey, coming up dylan byars from "politico" will be joining us.

we'll also be talking to boston "globe" reporter wesley lawyer to see how that city is getting back in shape, back to real life, and how did the media do reporting the events of last week up in boston. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> overhead lines making news on thissing monday -- >> bill: it's monday. >> yeah. >> boston red sox player david or tease gave a passionate speech to the boston coming victims. so passionate that he dropped the f bomb and it went out over live television. but the chairman of the fcc, tweeted yesterday that big papi spoke from his heart and he had no problem what he said it might help that the chair is a massachusetts native and red sox

fan. >> bill: it's also nice to know that from now i on radio and television, i can feel free to drop the f bomb as long as it freeze the heart. >> i agree with him but he might be setting a dangerous standard, because now when these case goes to court, which they do, they can just say look, it was from the heart. >> bill: from the heart. >> and he said he is okay with it. >> bill: i never drop the f word unless it's from the heart. >> yeah, it east usually a heart-felt f. >> bill: yes. >> i do have any finger on the dump button now. >> be very careful, we're professional f-ing broadcasters. >> the texasal fill late has egg on its face as they

misinspectfied the boston bombing suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev -- >> bill: that's close. >> the text came up as an actress who stars as on new girl. >> i tweeted the picture. i had quite an evening -- because i tweeted the pick chair and within moments joel mchale the actor and comedian, he retweeted it and then i would say about 30 minutes later she retweeted it. >> bill: oh. >> i got a direct message from her. >> bill: you did? >> yes i did. >> bill: very nice. >> yeah it got out there. >> bill: we'll get the pulitzer prize for peter ogburn.

>> yes and we can safely say that peter went viral on friday night. >> i was trending in canada. >> al michaels had one too many over the weekend he was arrested and charged with a dui. he was pulled over friday night in santa monica california and spent five hours behind bars to sober up. >> bill: dummy. >> i'll say this, i have cold called a lot of people to come on and be guest, and i cold called al michaels one time in the hotel room. meanest sob i have ever dealt with. but now that we know he drinks -- >> bill: that's it. you should have said -- you come in the show and i'll buy you a

drink afterwards. >> exactly. >> bill: yes indeed we talk about a lot of aspects of the events in boston last week and one thing we haven't touched on yet, and wanted to get your comments on is the behavior and the performance of the media throughout this whole thing. i would have to say it was not the media's finest hour right? i mean, the problem with cable news is they -- particularly cnn, right? it's breaking news that's their bread and butter so they have all this time -- at least 18 hours of live coverage every day, and they have got to fill it up so anything that happens that's even -- you know like resembles just a little bit of breaking news then they go

wall-to-wall. right it? doesn't have to be a great big deal or the explosion of a fertilizer plant in texas or murder at the boston marathon but when that happens they really do go wall-to-wall. and when you go wall-to-wall you end up with a lot that can go wrong as we discovered. and there's a rush to be first, a rush to fill up time the reports who are talking all the time -- john king is a good reporter, but if he is talking all the time, he doesn't have a chance to do any real reporting. he is getting pressure from the network executives saying you can't just keep repeating yourself, you have got to move this story along right? and it's just a recipe for disaster, which is what happened. we heard it last week for example, last wednesday, john king emphatically saying they

got him. >> wolf we have information an arrest has been made -- >> so the suspect that was identified has now been arrested? >> i was told by a boston law enforcement officer we got him. >> bill: and of course they didn't have him. that was wednesday. and they had no idea who they were. so cnn has egg on its face and then maybe worst of all was the "new york post." the "new york post" actually from some of the video that was taken by one of the spectators, they get a picture of two brothers who were standing there, two teenagers -- >> yeah. >> bill: put them up on their front page and said here they are. here are the terrorists? and they weren't remotely connected to this. so here is the question not

only how they get away with this, but -- but also why did they get away with it? and can they and should they get away with it? cnn never really apologized. they just said we reported something, and it turns out now that authorities are saying whoever reported that was way ahead of the story. and i believe at this point the "new york post" has apologized. >> i don't think they have. i know cnn hasn't. because they were like hey, sorry, our sources were wrong. >> bill: right. brian stelzer points out that one of the things that happened was there were too many leaks. they had a lot of access to local police personnel, and that's where they were getting that information. the fbi realized that and they

shut down. and so the reporters kept going back to their resources who didn't know anything, and were still talking. the people who knew weren't talking, and the people who were talking didn't know. >> right. >> bill: the one exception, i any the whole outstanding exception -- in the whole mess was pete williams from nbc. and this really changed the dynamics here, because breaking news always turned to cnn, because msnbc, they don't have a news association, they just have talkers, but they have got nbc behind them. they have peter williams and other people out there, and at a time like this, i knew because when i was working at msnbc, we did the same thing, so you turn

to your nbc people who are just about the best in the business. there are some good people at abc too, but nobody came close to pete williams and he was the guy that had it right every time. and nbc, their rule inside was we're not reporting anything until pete says it is okay. and he by the way was trending on twitter. >> oh, yeah jand it shoots holes right into cnn's argument that their sources were wrong. there were sources that were right, and pete williams had them. >> bill: yeah, now look they did a good job in getting the word out, the photographs of the -- of the suspects of the terrorists, they put them out there responsibly, but it was beforehand when they were jumping into the arrest and

jumping in to identify other people. by the way, not to mention -- here there is no control, all of the people on twitter and reddit and other internet sites who were putting things together, and identifying people as suspects in the case but that's sort of the unofficial media. it's the official media broadcast operations that i think some of them starting with cnn really should be called to task here. but i don't think it makes a damn bit of difference here. we have accepted the fact sadly -- there was a time if you were cbs or whatever and you did something like that, you would have to go on and apologize and

beg forgiveness of the american people. and today people just move on. what do you think of the media there? 866-55-press here on the "full court press." you watched it all. you wined to it all. who do you think really did a good job, and who totally screwed up? here on the "full court press" this monday morning. >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show," now on current tv. ♪ hungry for it. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

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court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> bill: here we go twenty-five minutes after the hour speaking about this -- the media, writhing about it in the "new york times," just a couple of sentences from this article. he said yes, the cable networks want to be accurate but the implicit promise of a 24-hour news service is it will happen quickly, you know? god, if the it's breaking news then you have to have the guy right away, and it's this rush to make things happen when nothing is happening. they have got to inevent stuff that is happening and they feel that pressure and there they go. >> on twitter @bpshow, shelley

says, when john king reported and the that the suspect had been arrested he reported it as a dark-skinned man. and phil says this one is coming straight from the heart, f-cnn and the "new york post." >> bill: indeed. bob is calling from california. >> caller: when i heard this stuff going on i didn't know half of it was true and half of it was fault but i couldn't tell which was which. and the other thing is i figured people like you could take the time to think about it a bit, so i listened more to people like you, than the, quote unquote, news people. >> bill: and maybe the time to sit back and say okay, let's filter this out. what is real and what is not, but for most people watching -- you know watching the cable channels bob,

they -- they go to them because the big news story, and they go to them because they trust them to get it right, and now we find out that they don't always get it right, and what they seem to be telling us is that is okay if we make mistakes just stick with us eventually we'll get it right. >> caller: another piece, i thought there was some intentional disinformation being released. >> bill: i wondered that when they lifted the lockdown but don't know about that. hey, folks, we want to jump off to boston next and talk to wesley wesley wesley lowrey and find out from him if the people of boston are getting back to normal and also

what is the feeling up there about the lockdown they all went through. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

♪ >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: they got him. he's awake. he is alive. he's not talking, but answering questions in writing from his hospital bed, and the city of boston and the entire region getting back to normal. we believe we hope let's find out, wesley lowry is a reporter

for "the "boston globe."" good morning, wesley thanks for joining us. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> bill: what is the mood today in boston first of all? relief, celebration? revenge? what is the mood there? >> you know, the mood has -- has been kind of one that desires to return to normalsy i think especially today. today is still one of morning. we have a wake for one of the three victims. there will be a moment of silence today for the one-week anniversary. but it is definitely one of relief now that it is not an active threat anymore. for a little bit the city was held hostage, held in siege, and

i think the people of boston are certainly relieved that that is over, so we can now spend time honoring the victims. >> bill: in the end the suspect was found outside of the perimeter, so it -- i have heard some criticism that the authorities went too far or maybe not far enough with the lockdown. what is the feeling; that it was overkill or necessary? >> you know, it's -- it's hard -- at the end of the day, they did catch the guy and no one else was hurt, and i think that was probably most important. but this is an unprecedented situation. i'm trying to think of any other time where there was a known terrorist who had killed police officers and thrown bombs and who was literally free on the

streets of a u.s. city -- >> bill: i don't think that has ever happened. >> exactly. at the end of the day, for me at least it's very hard to be upset with the governor or mayor about any of those things because had they not shut down parts of the city and had dzhokhar hurt anyone else we would have forever been second-guessing their decision not to do that. >> bill: i totally agree, and what i hear from ed davis too is that he was inside the perimeter at one time, but escaped the perimeter under the cover of darkness and was still only like a black half away. >> yes he was still in watertown, just outside of the perimeter and the police had been searching outside of the perimeter as well.

it wasn't that that was the only place they had been looking. for example, up in cambridge where the two suspects lived, they searched a massive section of the city, even though there was no indication that they were there. it was just outside of that 20-block perimeter. >> bill: wesley lowery is our reporter for the "boston globe"," you can follow him on twitter twitter @wesley lowery. i understand you were in watertown when police discovered where they fled with their suv. describe that scene us to. >> horrifying was the only word i have for it. i was at mit immediately after the shooting at that crime scene, and i was discussing with

police officers -- for those who are not reporters, they may not understand there's nothing more tense than a situation where a police officer has just been shot and killed police are markedly vigilant about guarding that scene and perimeter. i was talking to these officers, and they literally dropped cups of coffee out of their hands, like out of a movie and jumped in their car and spread off. and i knew something was going on. i followed them to watertown and got within blocks of the police perimeter -- because there was no perimeter yet. and i watched dozens hundreds of officers rushing into the scene, weapons drawn, screaming to each other. turn off your cell phones they are worried that there were cell

phone act -- activated ieds lining the street. there were rounds that were spent from officers gun and the suspects, and i just turned around, standing maybe three blocks away from the shootout and watched and hundreds of officers stormed in without any hesitation. frankly it was horrifying but in the same way it definitely was quite the scene to watch our law enforcement officers running into what they thought was a war zone like i said without any hesitation. >> bill: and that's when they were able to -- the one brother was killed, that's when they were able to identify him and they were sure at that time that they had the two marathon bombing suspects. the cell phone was

left -- the -- the person who's suv they carjacked, was -- he left his cell phone in the car. you know, we haven't seen him or heard him at all, at least i haven't, interviewed. do we know who he was, and did he leave the cell phone in there intentionally, knowing with the gps they could track him down? >> we don't know that definitively yet. like you said he hasn't been out yet. he has yet to have been interviewed. i'm sure he's partially traumatized by this, and also i'm sure he has been kept close to law enforcement. this would be someone who would be crucial potentially in a prosecution in terms of finalizing the investigation. and he does risk saying the wrong thing right now, and so i think that -- that's important to remember as well but we have

yet to see him, and that's not to say the horde of media here aren't searching for him. >> bill: i bet. >> but so far law enforcement said that cell phone was crucial, because they were able to track the suspects to exactly where they were driving around in watertown. half carjacking him, they made them take them around -- >> bill: and they identified themselves. >> oh, yeah and at one point they pulled over for some snacks. and he was able to dash off. and it really was a very crucial mistake for two men who had evaded capture for two days. >> bill: to leave him in the

car? >> yes. >> you hear boston strong that phrase has gotten thrown around a lot, so it has been a week since the bombing dade -- today. what is boston like now? >> the area towards the boston marathon finish line has still been completely shutdown. it has become a memorial. i have colleagues that were out there spending back pictures and tweeting, and there's hundreds of flowers and notes, and signs. the large electronic signs on the highway are all saying boston strong and one love. the city certainly has a very somber move, but like i said it

is a return to normal. the sox are playing and fenway has been packed. we have a special election in nine days for john kerry's senate seat, and so this is a crewucial time. the deadline to file papers to run for mayor is fine pages long. and so return to sports and politics, and people getting back out to the restaurants and bars to the dunk -- dunk endonuts are buzzing this morning. >> bill: so is david ortiz going to run for mayor of boston? [ laughter ] >> i think he picked up a fie

votes with his speech at fenway the other day. >> bill: i think papa could be elected with acclamation. >> without a doubt. >> bill: hey wesley thank you so much for your time this morning, and for your good work up there. >> of course. any time. thank you for having us. >> bill: ""boston globe,"" they were on top of this although they did screw up with cnn last wednesday. >> a lot of people pointed out on twitter, look you want to show your support to how these folks covered this? get a subscription to your local newspaper. >> bill: yeah, absolutely, ""boston globe"" is a damn damn good newspapers.

i think he is right own the lockdown. some people are critical of it. they went too far and it didn't do anything. let the law enforcement people do their job. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." we have a big big hour and the (vo) earth day isn't just for tree huggers, it's a wake up call to mankind. celebrate earth day with an afternoon of documentaries about the planet we all share. >> what are the forces that are blocking change? (vo) and stay tuned at 2 eastern for an exclusive premiere of leonardo dicaprio's award winning film, the 11th hour. >> we face a convergence of crises, all of which are a concern for life. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope.

>> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections tuberculosis lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. you should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections,

have cuts or sores have had hepatitis b have been treated for heart failure, or if you have symptoms such as persistent fever bruising, bleeding or paleness. since enbrel helped relieve my joint pain, it's the little things that mean the most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they

actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. ♪ >> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: twelve minutes before the top of the hour here on the

"full court press." this monday morning, april 22nd i'm talking a lot about boston and we'll talk more about that in the next hour when dylan byars joining us from "politico." and we'll talk about a couple of stories that we wanted to cover -- that at least mentioned this morning, we won't have time to get into a lot of depth, but president obama in his remarks friday night, i was glad to see at the end of his remarks, he said -- after talking about boston and what a relief it was that the suspect had been caught, and thanking and congratulates the law enforcement authorities up there as well as the civic leaders for the tremendous work that they had done the president said but let's not forget also west texas, and the horrific accident that they went through with the explosion at the fertilizer plant and the loss of so many lives, including 15 first

responders, 10 firemen and 5 emts people, and that was a horrible tragedy up there, and the other thing when you look at that town, talk about -- texas is known for not having land-use planning whatsoever so here is this fertilizer plant which is right in the middle of the little town and right next to the elementary school. >> yeah. to see some of the pictures of the giant cloud from this explosion and it's right next to a couple of restaurants, and things like that it's insane. and i'm glad you mentioned the obama thing, because it shows what a crazy week it was last week. that would have been a huge story, in we weren't in the middle of a national manhunt. >> bill: right. and the firefighters those

companies out there -- there were signs in their fire houses i read saluting the first responders in new york on 9/11 some of whom police fire and ambulance and medical personnel who lost their lives responding to their tragedy -- they were sort of lying the heros that they looked up to and these responders responding to the call and then they lost their lives. very sad situation there. and then we were very excited about the big celebration in denver on april 20th for the big pot holiday, and that turned into a very tragic scene, no lives lost, but gunfire erupting at the very mellow event in denver. our friend allen st. pierre was out there. we want to get his take on it.

it was being held at civic center park. one person shot, and others injured, and they still don't know who did it and are still looking for this person. but it was pa da -- pandemonium there. and the other story is the boy scouts -- >> oh, boy. >> bill: they just can't get it right. they announced officially now they are going to lift its ban on gay scouts but not on gay leaders, now before they said they were considering lifting the ban on both scouts and leaders and they got a lot of reaction, particularly from evangelical churches who sponsor a lot of boy scout troops who

said they will disassociate themselves if the boy scouts do this. so now they have compromised. you can be a gay scout, but we will not accept any gay scout leaders. they are still going to discriminate against gays and broadcast the message that gays can't be trusted to have anything to do with where kids are around. >> not to mention they put this statement out in the middle of -- like at the height of searching for the bomber in boston. >> bill: i think it maim out friday evening -- >> yeah, late afternoon during this man hunt. >> bill: yeah, all i got to say is no -- this is not good enough. this does not cut it. >> you either stand for gay rights or you don't stand for gay rights. >> bill: uh-huh. >> you can't slice it down the middle and act like you have

done something to be respected. >> bill: absolutely. again, they will bowing to the pressure of the religious zealots who are homophobes, so stop trying to -- cater to them. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." ♪ way inside. (christoff) we're patrolling the area looking for guns, drugs bodies ... (adam) we're going to places where few others are going. [lady] you have to get out now. >> lots of terrible things happen to people growing marijuana. >> this crop to me is my livelihood. >> i'm being violated by the health care system. (christoff) we go and spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the people and the characters that are actually

(vo) from the underworld to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> occupy! >> we will have class warfare. (vo) true stories, current perspective. documentaries. on current tv.

>> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. ♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. here we go. w three minutes to go before the

top of the hour. chris moody from yahoo news will be here as a friend of bill starting off the next hour, for the entire next hour and then dylan byars media critic from "politico" will be here assessing the performance of the media on todayradio, television and print during the boston marathon crisis. president obama back at the white house today, he and the vice president get the daily briefing as always at 10:45, and then the president will spend most of the rest of the day with the science fair that he organizes at the white house once a year. he'll be reviewing science fair projects, and then delivering remarks in the east room of the white house at 2:25 this afternoon. jay carney will be holding his press briefing in the brady

briefing room at 12:00 noon i'll be there and tell you about it tomorrow.

[♪ theme music ♪] >> bill: it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. good morning friends and neighbors, welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. good to see you this morning. it is monday april 22nd. we're coming to you live from our nation's capitol and our studio on capitol hill here in

washington, d.c. senate and house both out of town, but we'll let you know what is going on in our nation's capitol around the country and the globe, and ready to take your calls at 866-55-press. that's the thing about the "full court press" you not only have a chance to find out what is going on, you can talk about it as well, at 866-55-press. or send us your comments on twitter, @bpshow, become our friend on facebook at facebook/billpressshow, and let us know what you think is going on. back to normal here in washington in the sense that more and more republicans are now jumping ship and raising questions about the immigration reform released -- that outline for that reform released by the so-called gang of 8 in the

senate, that could mean it could become like the gun issue where congress does something. and lindsey graham is insisting that the boston suspect be tried as an enemy combatant. lots to tackle, and we will on current tv. ♪ celebrate earth day with an afternoon of documentaries about the planet we all share. >> what are the forces that are blocking change? (vo) and stay tuned at 2 eastern for an exclusive premiere of leonardo dicaprio's award winning film, the 11th hour. >> we face a convergence of crises, all of which are a concern for life. they think this world isn't big enough for the both of them. but we assure you - it is. bites. little greatness.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know

that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. ♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: boston strong. indeed nation strong in standing with boston, the people of boston who are getting back to normal today hello, everybody, it is monday april 22nd great to see you today this is the "full court press," we're coming to you live on your local

progressive radio station, of course, how lucky you are if you have got one and on current tv. bringing you the news of the day, a giving you a chance to be sound off about it. you are not only informed you can inform us of your views. you can do so any one of three ways, give us a call at 866-55-press, the old-fashioned way, but we love to get your voices on the air, follow us on twitter @bpshow, and on facebook at facebook/billpressshow. and twitter -- we're famous for twitter. we even had peter ogburn who was trending on twitter over the weekend. >> are you big in canada? >> i'm huge in canada. >> bill: you might explain why -- >> on the closed captioning of -- of -- during the marathon

bombing manhunt there was a station that said -- they are look for the marathon bomber 19-year-old zui daysharnel. >> bill: which is close to dzhokhar tsarnaev. >> maybe. so i tweeted it. and in about 30 minutes time zui had actually tweeted it and i got a direct message from here on twitter. >> what did she said to you? >> a gentlemen will never tell. >> bill: very good. and he was sober at that time of night too, which is impressive. dan henning here alicia cruz on

the phones and siprion bolling on cameras. hah in studio with us chris moody. welcome back. >> thank you for having me. >> bill: all right. cheers. this is on your first time as a friend of bill but when people do make their first appearance on radio or television one expects them to be at their very best, right? you could see the promise in this new talent. well, it didn't turn out that way at kfrr bismark, north dakota, they introduced a new anchor last week and here are the very first words that he utters on the air in his new job. >> announcer: you are watching your news leader in high-def situation. >> gay [ censor bleep ]. >> good morning, i am [ inaudible ] he'll be joining

the weekend news team as my coanchor. tell us a little bit about yourself aj. >> thank you i'm very excited. i graduated from west virginia university, and i'm just from being from the east coast. >> well, welcome aboard aj. >> bill: welcome aboard aj. [ laughter ] >> and boom goes the dynamite. >> bill: yeah. >> yeah yeah, you'll have to see this. famously bombing anchors is something i love to watch. >> bill: his first words were gay f-ing s. >> but did it come from the heart? >> bill: what was he thinking? i think he'll be back at the university of virginia. >> yeah, he is used to the east coast. >> bill: kind of.

>> kind of. >> bill: chris moody is here as our friend of bills, and we'll get into the news of last week what a week it was, but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> by the way as i begin this news update, a little bit of self promotion marks the start of my seventh year here at the "bill press show." >> bill: you thought it did. [ laughter ] >> a great day at fenway park in boston on saturday -- i'll do so much to help myself out -- what? >> bill: go ahead. keep going. >> neal diamond caught a red-eye flight from california -- what? >> bill: go ahead. >> neal diamond caught a red eye to make an appearance to sing sweet carolina at the boston red sox game.

and the stadium went wild when he showed up. just 40 minutes before the game he called the switchboard saying, hi i'm kneel diamond, i'm here and i want to sing. george w. bush's library opens in texas this week. he says it will be a play to lay out the facts, not a forum to explain him self. he be joined by his father jimmy carter, and president obama expected to attend as well. >> bill: bush library, food -- >> i thought it was going to be an art museum for pictures of dogs. >> and al michaels who calls

himself -- who calls sunday night football on nbc had one too many drinks over the weekend, he was arrested and charged with a dui, he spent five hours behind bars to sober up. he was cooperative and released on his own recognizance. lessee a judge in june. >> bill: chris it started a week from today with the bombing at the finish line at the boston marathon, then we had the gun bills go down in flames on wednesday. the immigration bill was somehow released in the middle of it hardly got any notice at all, then this horrific explosion out in west texas at the fertilizer plant, and it seemed to go on and on and on but let's go back to immigration. the gang of 8 have come out with

this bill. is this going to be different from gun safety? is this one likely to pass? >> i think it is more likely to pass than the gun safety bill but you have some real partisan support. you have a lot of people that you already knew were on the other side on this issue. with the gun bill it was very clear that it might not have reached the 60 votes. here it is less clear, and it looks like they are making a major push to have a vote on this thing before the recess. they have to do it by july that's very important for the passage of this bill. >> bill: of course we don't know if we'll get a vote in the house. >> the house seems very eager to make a vote on their own bill. people interested in immigration

reform that are for this is there is an appetite on both sides to do something, where there was no appetite to do something on the gun bill last week. >> bill: one issue that has been raised is what impact if any, the events in boston last week and the fact that these were two young men who came here as children with their parents as immigrants might have on this debate? here is dirk durbin yesterday. >> immigration reform will make us safer, and i hope that those who are critical of it will come forward and say what their idea is. we have come up with a sound plan to keep this country safe. >> bill: i also heard a couple of senators say oh look at this, we have got to be careful.

>> they used it within hours of the bombing, that this is going to have an impact. what durbin is saying is if we do our immigration reform we know who is here. and his point is get people out of the shadows, and if they do something terrible in the future, you know who they are. i think by the time we get to may, june july i don't think it will be the issue of immigration reform. it will be used as a talking point, no doubt, but i don't know if it will be the big talking point. >> bill: harry reid whatever the word is procedurally pulled the plug on the gun issue, but does that mean this issue is dead? can it -- will it ever come

back? >> yes, 2014. it will be used at least as a political issue for the 2014 midterm elections. >> bill: not before then? >> i don't know. it will be tough to hold a vote on something like that. but before 2012 they had a big vote on the dream act, and it went down so gun legislation could have a rebirth in a couple of years as well. >> bill: so on a couple of the shows, family members and parents of some of the victims at newtown expressed their frustration and disappointment at the fact that despite their pleas and despite their presence, the senate -- so many senator that voted voted against it. >> the mood at the senate last

week was extremely emotional. i was outside the senate chamber immediately after they were all consoling each other, and harry reid and manchin and others came over and said hello, and tried to consult each one, one by one, and it was a very emotional moment for these people. but like i said it was similarly emotional for the dreamers two years ago and now they can have their day. >> bill: my latest column was posted on friday and is still up on our website at billpressshow.com. and we tweeted it out as well. my column, shame on the senate send them all home. maybe exaggerating to make point, but i certainly feel one of the most shameful moments in

the history of the senate since i have been covering american politics. they did not rise to the occasion, at least not enough of the occasion. we're talking the events of the past week with chris moody from yahoo! news. dylan byars will be joining us just a little bit later from "politico" to talk about the media coverage last week up in boston. you are welcome to join the conversation any time, at 866-55-press. that's our toll free number. monday april 22nd. >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show," now on current tv. ♪ converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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>> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. ♪

>> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> bill: all right. twenty-three minutes after the hour here on the "full court press" with chris moody from yahoo! news in as a friend of bill this hour. back to your calls and comments about the news of the week but first, boy, there's a version of identity theft called friendly fraud, we have told you about a couple of cases of that recently. here is another one out of louisiana. deputies have arrested the woman for stealing the identity of her grandmother and buying more than $100,000 in vehicles computers, and home improvements all in her grandmother's name. she used her identity to purchase a truck, mini van,

motorcycle, computers, a garage appliances and sad. grandma, man. you hear that and you are reminded you have to be protected against identity them. i am with lifelock ultimate. but they can't protect you or your bank account if you are not a member. call now and get 60 risk free days. see lifelock.com for details and then give them a call at 1-800-356-5967. chris back on the gun -- the vote -- gun vote for just a minute before we go to calls if you read maureen's column she basically blamed president obama. to use her phrase, it showed that he has not learned how to

govern. when all of the republicans except for four gang up and vote against something can you really blame the president? >> i think a lot of people are tired of seeing the pattern of the president blaming other people rather than being able to walk up and sign a bill. >> bill: but they voted no. >> right. but they want to see him signing fore bills, but the buck stops with him. >> bill: yeah, but there's a process. congress has to pass a freaking bill before the president can sign it. >> they want to see him fight harder and win more. >> bill: well, they are wrong. she's wrong on this jeff. it's not his fault that all of those -- i got to be careful of my french here -- >> if it's from the heart, bill -- >> if it's from the heart, yeah. >> bill: jerry is out in detroit, michigan.

hi, jerry what do you say? >> caller: i think you just watch the blood of the next assault rifle massacre is going to be on their hands and i would like to know what you think of rand paul, you know, accusing the president of -- of using the victim's familiar list as quote props. >> i was there when he said that. >> bill: i have talked about that thanks jerry. go ahead, chris. >> he was having a briefing with reporters last week, and he said that. i think he said it right before the bombings happened last week so that really got lost in the media, and i think it would have played a lot more throughout the week before the vote if the bombings hadn't happened obviously. >> bill: i think it was outrageous after these people lost their sons and daughters, little six year old angels and not to forget the teachers and

principle that gave their lives as well. and for their families to come down there despite that loss and put themselves on the line, and face these senator and make their case, i admire and solute them, and the idea that they should be criticized for doing so is just despicable. among other things they are citizens, they have a right to be heard, and if it happened to me i would probably be in grief for the rest of my life. i wouldn't want anything to do with politics, but they were willing to make that sacrifice and i solute them for it. rand paul has a mission right now. >> uh-huh. he wants to run for president or at least appear to be running for president. >> bill: and that's his mission. so he is out there on any issue trying to make his case, and i understand that, but i still think be careful of what you

say. we'll talk media and boston. dylan byars joining us next here on the "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first

one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. ♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current tv.com/bill press. >> bill: we had to bring in reinforcements this morning, not only chris moody is here as a friend of bills from yahoo! news, but dylan byars media critical from "politico,"

because when you talk about boston and the events of last week, from monday through friday, you have to talk about the performance of the media as well, and dylan good to see you. >> good morning. >> bill: did you rest up over the weekend? >> i did i slept all of saturday. >> bill: it was incredible. and we know to the extent that the media really was part of the story, they got the word out, when the police asked us to identify the people, they put it out there, and that obviously caused these guys to make some stupid mistakes to try to flee and brought the whole thing to a close, but along the way the media didn't do so well, particularly identifying last wednesday -- dan do you have that one more time, john king? >> wolf we have information an arrest has been made.

>> the suspect that was identified has now been arrested -- >> i was told by a boston law enforcement source we got him. >> bill: not only got him, but john king pointed out that he was a dark-skinned man. >> yeah. >> bill: what is going on here? >> you know, this has been discussed to death now -- >> bill: do it one more time. >> what i think is important is how much the media was a part of this story. because it was obviously an i normous story, and usually when i cover the media, i'm covering stuff that a lot of people aren't paying attention to. i think when people think back on boston a year from now, like when we're celebrating the one-year anniversary i think people are say do you remember how bad it was when john king got it wrong. >> bill: you think they will or will not say that?

>> i think they will. i think this is as big of case as when cnn bungled the supreme court ruling of 2012. there is this race to be first, pressure to be first, there's a lot going on that people say it's like the fog of war, your sources may think they know something that they might not know. normally you could take the time to check it you won't do it this time, because you know the competition is going to have it five seconds later. >> bill: and the "boston globe" surprised me. for this they got it wrong. >> right. >> bill: and it's also that you have got this vacuum, right -- they decide to go

wall-to-wall. that's when people come to cnn. and then you end up with all of this time to fill and you can't just keep repeating -- well you don't want to keep repeating yourself, so there's pressure to move the story, rights? >> yeah, how do you avoid that. these people are talking for 18 hours, it's as though they feel they need to say something, and that's i think where the problem comes in. >> bill: how do you avoid that i think as you bo back to rule number 1. which is you don't report anything unless you have a verified it. john king is a damn good reporter. i knew him as an associated press reporter, but if he is on the air talking, he doesn't have much time to do reporting. >> he doesn't, but i think the other thing that karr brings up as well is when you are on air, it's okay to fill a void when

you are doing a talk show -- like morning joe or "bill press show," you can talk about a lot of things. when you are reporting you can only state what you know so you have wolf blitzer going over and over, what do we know. and if you are a reporter you really want to break through and offer new content and you can't a scoop. >> bill: here is the question though, cnn really screwed up and so did fox news ap "boston globe." so what in a sense? will they suffer because of it? are there any consequences today to getting it wrong in the media. >> no, we did a piece on this. the consequences aren't what they used to be. you have to imagine if con

con -- cronkite really screwed it up, he would apologize the next night. even the "new york post" which was the most egregious source -- >> you just blame the anonymous source. >> right. and you are ultimately responsible because that was your decision. and no you don't apologize, but here is another thing. cable is trying to compete with twitter, right? and there's really -- like the boundaries aren't so clear, and everybody is trying to compete with everyone and cable can never catch up to twitter, so what i think what cable should try to do which is what the "new york times" tried to do and the "boston globe" is be a place that if you come here it is going to be right. it might not be first, but it

will be right. >> do you think there is an over reliance on anonymous sourcing? should there be reliance on fast ball in the fbi that i know told me this? is that what we used to see in stories like this, where all of the national attention was on it, and there was some kind of devastating thing that happened? >> i don't know enough of a sense of historical perspective to know, but i do think it would be impossible in this day and age to do this story without anonymous sourcing. the opposite of john king if he was the loser, the winner was pete williams. all of his sources were announce mouse, but with mie -- minor exceptions, he was right.

>> bill: when you saw pete williams on the air, at least i had the comfort level and certainly that i could believe what he was reporting, and again, reading, and people i know inside of nbc said that they just laid down the rule basically on nbc. we will not report it until pete williams says it is okay. >> right. i talked to staffers at both nbc, and msnbc. and what they said is the word right now is if pete okays it we can go with it, if he doesn't okay it, we don't go with it. a staffer went up to pete williams and said you are trending -- this was earlier -- he said you are trending on twitter. he said i don't want to be trending on anything. it is somewhat telling that the guy who is associated with the best reporting last week did not tweet once last week.

that's somewhat telling, unless maybe he tweeted late friday -- that's -- believe me i tweet like a thousand times a day. i love twitter, it is a great source for information, but there is something telling about that. he didn't spend the time participating in the noise. he spent the time doing his job. >> bill: not to beat up on cnn, but jeff zucker comes to cnn, and we're talking about the revamping of cnn, and get it right this time, and it could not have happened at a worse time for cnn,. would you agree? >> yes and there is another smart thing in karr's column. we criticize cnn, because we want it to be good. msnbc, fox news, at the end of the day they are partisan out

lets. you want to know that there is at least one news channel where you are getting accurate information. and when cnn was blowing it and he said we're bringing in new identity, fine. like none of that matters. when the world turns to you, and you blow it nothing else matters. >> and cnn, their big thing is disaster stories. and that's why like you said the bar is very high for them. >> bill: there was a poster on the wall when i was there for six years that showed cnn's basically ratings -- history -- and there would be huge spikes right when there was like a hurricane sandy or something, iraq war, and then in between nothing. nothing. >> right. >> bill: and that's when people turn to cnn.

>> right. it's like a hospital you go there when there's an emergency, but you never want to stay. >> bill: right. the irony is msnbc won't even have reporters. >> right. >> bill: but they have nbc. >> and it's a huge resource for them. and that means some people will start turning to msnbc because they have nbc. >> bill: right. okay. man, i have got to say, the media, talking about the media. here we are. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. ♪

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right. twelve minutes now before the top of the hour. we are assessing the role of the media in covering the boston marathon bombing, and the hunt for the suspects and the round up of the one suspect at least. here in studio with dylan byars from "politico," covers the media for "politico," and chris moody here as a friend of bill from yahoo! news. so who comes out ahead in this whole thing, nbc? >> yeah, definitely.

this was a huge -- it's always hard to talk about wins and losses in the industry when you are dealing with a tragedy, but set that aside, huge win for nbc, huge loss for cnn, and all of the other people who won and loss, like the "new york times" had great coverage but i don't think people pay at much attention to that. what matters right now in tragedy situations is television. >> bill: you didn't go to fox to have any breaking news original reporting. >> fox did very well in the ratings, but they were not a part of the conversation and they had -- they got some things wrong, and got some things right, but it never seemed to matter. >> why is cable news so important. you said ap got it wrong, and "boston globe" got it wrong, but

everyone said cnn got it wrong in the headlines. why was that so important? >> i think in addition to the fact that tv is the most accessible -- obviously there are people who use twitter, but i think for a lot of people television is the quickest medium, and we think of it as the national fireplace, the place where we gather around to watch. and we shouldn't undersell the amount, the degree to which this was entertainment. and i know it's terrible entertainment. but in a way, like the manhunt, it's a developing story -- >> bill: you could not turn it off. >> you could not turn it off, and it was so much better than whatever law and order -- and homeland -- i mean it was great television. >> bill: absolutely. friday night was gripping. yeah, the news is -- they lift the lockdown people can go back

out in the streets, brian williams i was watching, and in the middle of his newscast which was a replay of what they just taped a half hour before they break into that with new reporting that gunshots had been fired. it was surreal. >> it was totally surreal. and there is something about that visual media that people need. >> bill: let's bring a couple of friends in here. herly is from phoenix. good morning. >> caller: yes, i just want to say that what chaos that cnn caused in front of the courthouse, a lot of gathering people there hoping to get a sight of the suspect -- and the fact that there was a clearing out of the courthouse, nobody is really talking about it now. but then somebody said was there a bomb scare or not? but there were people believing

in cnn, and another one was fran townsend. >> bill: yeah, not her finest hour either. she was confirming everything that john king was saying and she didn't have any sources of her own. >> yeah, and to that point it was -- you wonder why john king takes all of this because fran townsend should take some too, but the thing is he had the quote. we got him. >> it was crystalized in the onion too. and the daily show you are the guy. >> yeah. >> bill: i thought brian ross on nbc, he is a damn good reporter too. >> yes, he did some fine work from boston but because of

previous mistakes i think that fewer people -- i think if you saw pete williams and john king, you weren't wondering what brian ross was doing, because he got in trouble during the aurora shooting. but long-term the brand recognition and the integrity of the reporter is tarnished. >> bill: quit comment from each of you, while this was going on, on twitter and redit, people were doing their own sleuthing and identifying people as the suspect. is there anything you can do about that? you don't blame the media for that right? >> that's the nature of the medium. there's only so far the government can go to get people to stop saying things on the

internet. >> it is out of control, but it is part of the media because what reddigit and others assert that the media doesn't work anymore, we're taking this over. their credibility is on the line now too, and they didn't come out of this looking too good. redit the brand did not come out too good. >> bill: you guys come out of it looks great. >> we do. >> bill: all right. i'll be back with a quick parting shot on today's "full court press." >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ blocking change? (vo) and stay tuned at 2 eastern for an exclusive premiere of leonardo dicaprio's award winning film, the 11th hour. >> we face a convergence of crises, all of which are a

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. ♪

>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you know, a lot of aspects of this boston marathon bombing that we will take away with us, but the one thing that i thought a lot about was one that has become the signature phrase of our time see something, say something. we learned how important it is up in boston, because one man saw something, blood on the tarp of his boat parked in his backyard, and one man said something. picked up the phone and called authorities, because of that boston's nightmare ended. these days i think it's something we all need to remember and practice as simple as it sounds see something, say

something. all right. folks, go out and have a great monday come back and see us here tomorrow morning. >> bill: >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."